Letters: Give Suffolk County a real election for next district attorney

Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota said on May 29, 2014, that debris found at a wetlands site on the Islip-Babylon border was dumped by the same people responsible for dumping at the park. Photo Credit: Joseph D. Sullivan

It’s time for a change in Suffolk County. Whether or not District Attorney Thomas Spota runs for another term, it’s incumbent on the Suffolk political leaders to hold an actual, contested election [“The drumbeat of corruption,” Editorial, May 13].

In 2005, 2009 and 2013, Spota ran unopposed. Suffolk Democratic chairman Richard Schaffer, Suffolk GOP chairman John Jay LaValle and their predecessors have to accept some of the blame for the situation Suffolk faces today. With investigations, indictments and convictions of officials, as someone said long ago, absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Long Island is turning into a sewer of corruption. Every time I open a paper or turn on the TV, I see a politician convicted of a crime or getting an illegal deal.

Can any of them just do the jobs they were elected to do? Did they forget they were elected for the betterment of our county?

Our high tax rate is in direct relation to our corrupt politicians, who are responsible for waste and fraud. One thing that should be done is to strip these individuals of their pensions and any benefits they would receive after their convictions. It’s about time we start taking back Long Island.

Like most people, when I was growing up, I learned it’s not right to lie, cheat or steal [“The drumbeat of corruption,” Editorial, May 13]. I learned these principles from adults — certainly my parents, relatives and teachers.

It’s safe to assume that convicted politicians and former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, and all other elected representatives, were taught the same lessons. Somewhere along the line, those lessons were forgotten.

There is something horribly wrong when Newsday has to essentially beg our elected representatives — supposedly the best leaders we can find — to protect us from themselves. What a shameful state of affairs.